Sent to the Premier [2] and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for consideration. May this article
be reprinted in the People's Daily [3]?

[1] On December 30, 1970, the Reference News published an article titled "The Battle for Oil
in the East China Sea" published on December 18. The article pointed out that the Japanese,
South Korean and Taiwanese authorities are busy transferring deep-sea mining rights, some
of which are legally disputed. Such mining activities are carried out on China's continental
shelf without consulting China. This month, the Chinese finally broke their silence on this
issue and strongly asserted their sovereignty over the East China Sea continental shelf. This is
the first time Beijing has publicly expressed such an attitude. The Chinese cannot claim that
the entire continental shelf adjacent to Japan and South Korea belongs to them, because
Japan and South Korea, as coastal states, also enjoy similar rights. However, in this case, in
theory, such rights should be distributed through mutual agreement, as was done in the
North Sea. In addition, there are some large areas far away from Japan and North Korea
where only China can be legally considered a coastal state. The 1958 Geneva Agreement on
the Continental Shelf stipulates that coastal states exercise sovereignty over "the continental
shelf to a depth of 200 meters or more, where the depth permits the exploitation of natural
resources." Most of the East China Sea lies within a depth of 200 meters, not to mention
that the agreement stipulates a depth exceeding this. Mao Zedong wrote this comment after
reading the newspaper.
[2] Premier refers to Zhou Enlai.
[3] Based on Mao Zedong’s instructions, the People’s Daily published a summary of the
article on December 31, 1970.